What's This?
by C2-S1
Summary: Bleach Oneshot. It's Christmas time, and both Rukia and Ichigo can feel it in the air. The animosity, not the Christmas spirit. But who says you can't you hate someone and love them too?


**Disclaimer: **Bleach isn't mine. And neither is that last line in the summary; I shamelessly stole it from a friend of mine. Go read her story "Sparks".

Wouldn't it be _cool_ if half the people who favorited reviewed? Crazy, hm?

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What's this?

Ichigo glared, as usual, at the small woman in front of him. His very own death god, you could say. But she only served as a sole port for his frustration. Even now, during the most festive season of the year, she had this special way of irking him that not even the four and five year old children screaming to see Santa couldn't quite replicate. It was in the way she glared right back at him as they stood in line at some discount store, it was in the way she called him childish and immature, with immature children staring in awe as this tiny person snapped on the fiery haired teen that had to be at least two feet taller than her. The way she knew nothing and everything about the human world, the way she held herself, proud and strong, even as the old woman behind the cash register rang up the fluffy pink bunny rabbit.

It was in the way that she said his name, the way he wanted her so badly, and the way it killed him to know that she would never be his.

Rukia wasn't pretty. That would be a ridiculous understatement, Ichigo thought, and he was positive that he wasn't the only one who thought so. She was absolutely beyond beautiful. Aphrodite would have been jealous of Rukia's natural beauty, it's haunting quality. And it showed, even now, when she was yelling at him for something he honestly didn't give a damn about. He was too busy focusing on her lips, not hearing a word. He was captivated.

"...did you hear me, Ichigo?"

His reverie broken, he cocked an eyebrow at her inquisitively. She had been saying something. He was certain of it. Absolutely positively. Now if he could just get a hold of it...

But no. He couldn't quite remember what she had said, let alone grasp enough to answer whatever her question had been. Lazily, as if he were brushing off her question, (as he usually did and probably would have, had he heard it) he laced his fingers together, behind his neck, and stared at the ceiling, draped in holly and green and red Christmas wreaths. Rukia's eye twitched.

"Ichigo!"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you." He hadn't heard a word of it, and he knew it.

"Well then, what do you want?"

This question caught him off guard. What did he want? What did she mean? He dropped his gaze to her beautiful, pale face and those big blue eyes, and he was tempted to say, "You", but caught himself. Accidentally, his gaze fell to her chest, still covered by the school uniform that did her body no justice, and he felt his ears go red, but his expression of stoic nonchalance didn't change. He brought his eyes back up in time to see Rukia clench her teeth, but not in time to avoid the fist aimed for his jaw.

After the stars had cleared from his vision and he could work his jaw in up and down movements, Ichigo held the purple bruise that flowered over the better part of his right cheek. One of her more annoying qualities, right there. She had a wicked left hook though, he did have to admit.

"What the hell was that for!" He almost shouted it. But the big fat man in the red suit would have been distracted from the toddler screaming about his brand new Tonka Truck that he'd been good all year for, so he decided against it.

"My eyes are up here, Ichigo."

Her teeth were still clenched, but she managed a smile at the poor soul behind the register, who merely smiled back in light of the awkward situation. After fishing around in her pockets for money, she paid and took the bags full of sketch pads, markers, Christmas gifts for random people and that one specially giftwrapped present. Taking Ichigo by the hand, (which was surprising to him, though he didn't object) she dragged him out of the store, accidentally bumping him into the automatic doors that greeted and welcomed patrons of the small establishment. At this, he felt a nice sharp stab of pain at the point where Rukia's knuckles had left a deep purple mark on his face. As you can imagine, this caused his anger (and indignation, though he'd never admit it) to flare up. He wrenched his hand out of her grasp and stood near the cold wall, holding his face, glaring at Rukia.

It didn't help that her backdrop was as scenic as winter could be: snow covering the cars and wreaths on the street signs, with children bundled up, holding parents' hands, laughing. It framed her body so perfectly...

Ichigo could hardly keep himself standing, and he found that his legs were shaking, not to mention that funny little flip thing his stomach was doing. All because of that stupid confused look she had on her face. She looked lost and helpless, so uncertain with those bulging bags and her nose and cheeks turning red from the cold. He wanted to go hug her.

"What's wrong?"

He continued to glare. It was the "screw you" glare.

"Nothing. It's just..." he trailed off, mumbling something totally incoherent.

Rukia raised an eyebrow and shivered as she felt a cold gust of wind from the doors that opened just behind her as some poor, unfortunate mother was dragged by her son into the store. With no prior warning, she sneezed, and Ichigo was there before her eyes had re-opened. He looked at her worriedly, and with a hint of frustration. She just didn't know how to handle her own body, not yet, and it was obvious that she was getting sick. She started to protest their close proximity, but he quickly silenced her by placing his finger gently on her lips.

"Shut up, idiot. You're sick."

She glared stubbornly at him, feeling the electricity jump from her neck to her toes and back again. He sent shivers down her spine, she admitted to herself, but she refused to let him know. He would be too stupid to understand anyways. It was only when she tried to back away from Ichigo that Rukia realized that she was backed against a wall. Well, not a wall, more of a vending machine. But regardless, she was trapped, held still in Ichigo's searching gaze, with his finger still placed gently on her lips.

When he decided that she would not protest, Ichigo took his finger away and held her face in his hands. Even for a death god she was pretty cold. (And pretty pretty, now that he thought of it, but that was a different subject altogether.) He stared intently at her cobalt eyes, yet again losing himself in them, and was shocked to find his heart beating faster and faster. He was more surprised when she stood forward on her tippy toes and kissed him, before he could do anything to stop her.

As if he would have.

Before she could retreat from her rash decision, Ichigo kissed her back, his mind in a euphoric daze. Screw Disney world; right here, in this little beat up, broken down convenient store, with no heater and a bruised cheek, Ichigo's wish was coming true. But just as suddenly as she started it, Rukia pulled away from the kiss, blushing and stuttering. She wouldn't look him in the eye, rather, she found an incredibly interesting speck of dust perched upon her left shoe, and decided to focus her attention there instead. The boy who stood before her though, was staring, flushed and still quite dazed, at the ethereal beauty who had just kissed him.

"Rukia...?"

She winced.

"I... thought... um..." she scrambled for words to explain her peculiar behavior. What had come over her? "...I saw... um.. there was some... mistletoe! Yes. Mistletoe. And I read in a book that you humans kiss under the mistletoe, so I guessed that I would try it and..."

She continued to stutter.

"Don't look at me like that! I was just doing what you're supposed to do under mistletoe. It wasn't anything special. Just get over it."

Ichigo put on a mock glare, though he laughed at her within himself. She was so adorable when she was awkward... But wait, What the Hell was he thinking? This is Rukia. She was annoying, and a bitch, and she hit like a man. Adorable his ass, Ichigo thought. But he still continued to stare at her, blushing and stuttering, with that same stupid affection he felt in the back of his heart and that same stupid little back flip trick his stomach had learned how to do. He sighed and closed his eyes, bringing his head back to look at the ceiling, for a moment of thought.

Well, he said in his mind, he knew for a fact that Orihime had taken the time to describe Mistletoe and all it's wondrous attributes, so at least Rukia was half right. Ichigo supposed that, since it was the season, and since Rukia was beginning to run out of reasons for her actions he would let it go. So, grabbing her hand and almost dragging her out of the store, Ichigo ran out into the snow and waited for Rukia to catch up with him. She was absolutely fascinated with the snow. Eventually though, she did go with him to return to his house, but as they were walking away, Ichigo didn't fail to notice the greatest flaw in Rukia's explanation, and it didn't help but amuse him.

There wasn't a sprig of mistletoe in sight.


End file.
